East Turkestan tribal and village rugs

East Turkestan encompasses what is today the province of Xinjiang in China. The ethnically Turkic population of the area has an ostensibly ancient tradition of rug weaving in the Oasis towns of Khotan, Kashgar and Yarkand.

Weavings from this area, (sometimes labelled as Samarkand because of the fact that they have traditionally been sourced from Samarkand) are distinguished by their unique integration of Chinese and Central Asian design elements.